Name: Freya. Also Freyja, Vanadís, Gefn, Valfreyja, Sýr, Mardöll, Skjálf and Hörn.
Symbols: The main symbol of Freyja was a necklace and her beauty.
Area Of Control: fertility, harvest, plenty, love, marriage, prophecy, magic, nature, war, witchcraft, sex and death.
Usual Image: Freyja was thought of as a beautiful young woman.
Holy Books: The Edda, as well as poems and sagas.
Holy Days: Friday (Freya’s Day).
Place Of Worship: Temples, forests and household altar.
Relatives: Njord (father), Odr (husband), and Gersemi and Hnoss (daughters).
Synodeities: Bastet (Egyptian), Ishtar (Babylonian), Laksmi (Indian), Aphrodite / Venus (Greek-Roman.)
Origin
Freya is a Norse goddess, child of Njord and Gaea (Nertha), and notable children of hers include Idunn, Sigyn and Nanna, she is of the Vanir. Freya is specifically the goddess of and associated with Love, Beauty, Fertility, Gold and Seid (a type of mystical power) Freya has also served as a Valkyrie, one of the chosen to ferry worthy dead to Valhalla. In modern times, the she may go by any of the names as follows. Frøya, Freya, Freja, Freyia, and Freia. Freya’s beauty is valued by many, and known by many and she is known as being exceptionally beautiful at that and as such has impacted her life in various negative and positive ways, One of the more famous incidents being when the Asgardian gods were blackmailed by the giant Thrym, who had stolen Thor’s mighty hammer Mjolnir, not willing to reveal its location unless Freya herself was offered up, and traded over to become Thyrms. Freya’s stubborn refusal at such a trade despite a few pleas from various worried Asgardians fearing Asgards vulnerability without Thor with weapon in hand, thus causing Thor to have to dress as a women. Borrowing some of Freya’s clothes, Thor goes about pretending to be the goddess of Fertility and Love himself. Thor dressed as Freya and Loki are both accepted into the giants stronghold. After various hours spent in the presence of the giants, Thrym, asserting himself as the victor of the deal, now that he has the beautiful goddess at his side, even despite her unusually voracious appetite and broad shoulders. In preparation for the wedding ceremony that would take place to make the trade off complete, the bride Freya (rather Thor dressed as her) was required to take hold of Thor’s hammer. Finally with it within his grasp, Thor is able to reveal his true identity and lay waste to the highly surprised Frost giants. Freya was now definitely not required to be taken by the giants as a prize.
On another occasion the one known as the Cruel Striker or otherwise known as Rimthursar, preyed on Freya’s perceived good nature of gullibility, deceiving her with a false story that Odin had died. This news causing Freya to weep, her tears actually being tears of gold. Rimthursar collected these tears for his own nefarious means. Eventually Thor was required to end his threat.
Creation
Freya is based on the goddess of the same name from Norse mythology, particularly those of the Poetic Edda and the Prose Edda.
Major Story Arcs
Merging with Frigga
While the character Frigga has always been Odin’s wife and Thor’s mother in Marvel Comics, the breaking of the cycle of Ragnarok enabled subsequent writers to reinvent Frigga and Freyja as one-and-the-same, as they are so often attested to within the Norse myths. Upon being reintroduced in the pages of The Mighty Thor (2011), Freyja is now written as and considered to be the same character as Frigga, the All-Mother of Asgard and mother of Thor, Balder, Loki and Laussa.
Shattered Heroes
Upon the defeat of The Serpent, Odin leaves Midgard destroying the rainbow bridge behind him leaving the Asgardians on Midgard. This leaves the Vanir in charge to rule the Gods. Freyja, Gaea and Idunn rule in the All Mother Throne Room. It is here were Loki, now a child must come before them and explain is actions during Fear Itself. Freyja black mails him into being the Vanir’s spy and errand boy.
Then some time later when Loki shows up with a litter of puppies bred from Garm and the Hel Wolf
she demands that he find a home for each of them or dispose of them. Loki finds a home for all but one, counting giving one to Gaea which Freyja disappoves of. Loki can’t make himself kill the ill tempered hound, and names it Thori, another act of which Freyja disapproves. Later when Loki gets in a fight with a bully in Broxton, Freyja orders that he apologize, after sending him to his room to think about what he has done. This leads Loki into making deals with the Fear Lords and this displeases Freyja even more, and punishes Loki with having to rake the Ruingarden.
Family Revalations
Following the breakdown of Freyja and Odin’s “honeymoon,” the All-Mother returns to her home of Vanaheim and resumes her duties to the realm as a Goddess of the Hunt. Freyja now resembles a closer approximation to her mythic self as a Vanir, with a feathered motif harkening to her cloak of falcon feathers and riding Trjegul, the large cat of myth that pulls her chariot along with Bygul. Following numerous failures within the realm of Asgard as a result of All-Father Thor inheriting Odin’s secrets and mistakes, Freyja and her daughter Angela of Heven summon father and son to the forests of Vanaheim to a family reckoning. A house divided cannot stand, and the House of Tiwaz must reconcile their differences.
Freyja confides in Thor that when he faced problems as All-Father he turned to Odin for aid, which left her to doubt her place in his future. She is not Thor’s birth mother, and while herself and Odin sat on Asgard’s throne she knew her place as All-Mother, but now she does not know. Thor confides in Freyja his own concerns, reawakening her maternal instincts as she reasserts her position as Thor’s true mother.
Death of Odin
When the Mother Storm is corrupted by the spiritual essence of the Mangog, Asgard’s Master of War Beta Ray Bill calls on all allies of the realm to aid Thor and Odin in defeating the thunder itself. Freyja answers the call and charges into battle alongside the heroes of Midgard, but the Mother Storm-Mangog proves too powerful and decimates their forces. Thor calls upon Gaea to grant him power and creates a huge energy tornado, which Freyja alerts Earth’s heroes is to protect his allies from the grand primordial struggle contained within. In the ensuing battle, an already weakened Odin is trapped beneath tonnes of rock. Struggling against the pain, Odin bestows his blessing upon Thor and transfers the last of the Odin Force to his son, ending his long life in the process. After the threat is ended, Freyja helps transport an unconscious Thor to Asgard where she greets him when he awakens. As Odin’s body dispersed into godly energy there is no body to burn on a pyre, but Freyja returns to Asgard in her royal attire for the memorial service. There she reunites with Loki for the first time since the War of the Realms ended, and as Thor reads from the fabled Book of Kinds, Freyja learns of the depth of Odin’s love and admiration for her.
Powers and Abilities
Like standard conventional Asgardian gods, Freya possesses super human statistics and attributes. Super human strength enabling her to lift over 20 tons, super human stamina, and durability. A resistance to disease and afflictions. Freya herself has an odd inherent ability in that her very tears are akin to gold and possessive of an undefined but mystical nature. Sought out specifically and used as an ingredient in a spell/sacrifice. Presumably she may have more undefined powers associated with fertility and nature given her status.
Other Media
Television
Video Games
Marvel: War of Heroes
Freyja appears in several cards in the mobile card game Marvel: War of Heroes. Her cards are:
- [All-Mother] Freyja